Started off easy - maybe top 30 by 1/4 mile in, hit first downhill and let the legs go - passed a few peeps who were breathing pretty hard. Tunred the corner and started up the lone hill through town. Another runner came up on me - thought I recognized him as someone else but I was wrong. We exchanged a few words and then he pulled away - we crested the hill, hit mile 1 @5:25 and then that guy came back real fast - I guess he realized he took it out too hard ;-) - then I pulled up to two younger guys - one dropped off - then the other ran with me and dropped me at the 1.5 mile aid station, but when we hit the next little bump - I wouldn't call it a hill - he slowed down and I passed him hard to make sure he wouldn't come back on me - then set my sights on the next kid up there - he was hanging out there dying on the vine, so I passed him right before mile 2 @11:43 (mile of 6:18) (uphill, wind and 4x 90 degree turns) - now I was securely in the top 10 and had two more high school kids to catch - and I was working hard but my limiting factor was leg turnover - I could almost talk in full sentences since I was at sea level but I couldn't move my legs fast enough - I pulled within 10
of these kids but just couldn't get close enough. Mile 2 was around 5:50. I ended up crossing the line in 18:11 which is 5:52 pace and 7th overall. I was the first guy that was 30+ but the AG was 19-39 - and I was 2nd in that category. I ended up with a $20 Gift Cert from Panera Bread and I won a Blockbuster Gift Cert as well for $10 - I actually came out ahead on the race - pretty neat.

Since I not training for 5ks - nothing. If I were training for 5ks or sprint triathlons, I would be doing more turnover work, meaning more pure speed - like 100s, 200s tire pulls etc.

I ate some apple strudle then drank some water, changed my shoes and did my two mile warm down run - it was a beautiful day in RI!


Speed! The GREAT thing about coming down to sea level to race is that if you are in shape, then you can't really get into O2 debt - so you can go really hard and recover almost instantly - so the limiter isn't endurance as much as it's leg turnover. At least that's something I CAN fix. :-)


Great race! Awesome apple strudle!